Halloween Candy Science Kit

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BOOItForward #CollectiveBias

You can pack a ton of sweet science into a beaker full of Halloween fun. And this year we decided to gift some to our favorite scientists by BOO’ing It Forward. Our candy science BOO Kit is filled with your favorite treats plus some cool science supplies they can use all year round.

Halloween Candy Scientist BOO Kit Supplies Needed

Here’s what you need to put it all together. Just cram them in however they fit :)

1 1000 ml beaker

6-8 fun size SNICKERS®, MILKY WAY® and 3 MUSKETEERS® bars

2 fun size packs of SKITTLES®

2 fun size packs of M&M’s®

2 8 oz. cans of Sunkist®

1/2 cup baking soda

2 tablespoons salt

2 white, round coffee filters

2 small zipper plastic bags

1 straw

2 clothespins

3 disposable pipettes

MY LATEST VIDEOS

Now… On to the experiments!

Candy Chromatography

I love this experiment. Maybe because I love color and science makes it even cooler. You need:

a pack of M&M’s®

a straw

a coffee filter

clothespins

water

your beaker

First, create your colors by placing a drop of water on a plate for each color you’re going to use. Then gently place an M&M’s® candy piece in each drop. Let sit for a few minutes until the color bleeds off. Then quickly touch each piece to a 4″ x 3″ piece of coffee filter, leaving some separation from both the bottom and each color. Try not to make the dots too big or the experiment will bleed together.

Mark your filter with the M&M’s® color and draw a line through each dot so you know what was where.

Next make your salt solution by adding 1/2 teaspoon of salt to one cup of hot water. Stir until dissolved. Then clip your coffee filter to the straw with the clothespins and place in the beaker. Note where the bottom of the paper is, take the filter out and fill to that line with the salt water solution. Then place the filter in the beaker to let the colors travel.

Why does this happen? It’s called capillary action, which is also known as wicking. It’s the ability for liquids to move through small spaces without any help, even against gravity. Our liquid, salt water, has greater affinity for some colors so causes those colors to travel further on the coffee filter.

Chocolate Mystery Experiment

Ever unwrap a few fun size pieces of Snickers®, Three Musketeers® and Milky Way® at the same time? They look almost identical. So play up their similarities with a little scientific method shell game. Unwrap one of each and guess which is which. Make your hypothesis and then enjoy every bite of data collection :) Conclusion? Delicious.

Foaming Soda Experiment

This is a fun take on a classic science experiment. Take baking soda and any acid and it will foam up. And Sunkist® soda is acidic :) It’s not candy, but it’s sweet orangey goodness makes it fit with the rest of the experiments. Don’t you love these creepy Halloween cans, too? That eye kept staring at me all day as I was working on this post!

SKITTLES® Solubility Experiment

This is another easy experiment… Simply drop a SKITTLES® into a variety of liquids and see how it dissolves. We tried cold water, hot water and vegetable oil. You can try some of the Sunkist®, too.

Boo It Forward and Win

Make your own Halloween Candy Scientist BOO Kit and give it to your favorite aspiring STEMist. And you can BOO It Forward with this free printable card, too. All you have to do it:

There are waaaay too many options for Halloween candy these days. So to whip up my BooitForward kit, I headed over to Walmart. I’m not gonna lie, the prices were fabulous! Plus, they’re giving away $1000 gift cards every week this October. So BOO It Forward and Win!!